General hospital psychiatry
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Gen Hosp Psychiatry · Sep 1995
Delirium in critical care unit patients admitted through an emergency room.
Two hundred thirty-eight patients admitted consecutively to a critical care unit through an emergency room were assessed prospectively for the presence of delirium. Thirty-eight patients (16%) developed delirium. Delirium occurred with equal frequency in all disease categories. ⋯ In this population, serious medical disease is a better predictor of the development of delirium than the presence of abnormal brain imaging which required medical intervention. Although delirious patients have longer lengths of stay, the presence of delirium does not predict higher mortality, as has been reported in other populations. This could be because delirious patients admitted to the critical care unit through the emergency room have fewer premorbid medical problems predisposing them to poor outcome.